Open Letter to the Devs Regarding Eden's Verse: Reflugence [Spoilers]

[Ceridwenae]

*snip*

Another insightful post. I certainly appreciate a bit more elaboration on the content, too, and should me and Daughter ever decide to have a bash at it, I've a little foresight on it. Always useful. Out of everything I've read, your last two posts have been the most helpful (although we do not mention the P word (princess) in this household. One time, Daughter was reminded hair must be brushed, at least before going out to school. There was a torrent of rage and "I don't want to be a *expletive* princess!" Child, you were only told to brush your hair.) Anyway, thank you! <3 Also, I'm quite reminded of a film I loved a lot when I was younger, which touches on these themes too: "The Company of Wolves." For me, it was one of the first films that seemed tailored to a young girl's experiences with becoming a young adult. Think I was 16, 17, maybe 18 when I first saw it, and I certainly owned a video of it! Also, Labyrinth flirts with some of this stuff too, but in a much, much tamer way (except for David Bowie's crotch area, of course. Nothing tame about that).

I watched a quick vid earlier today with girls aged 6 (IIRC) - 17. A fair few said they felt so much pressure to look a certain way, and lots had encountered negativity and bullying over any which way they looked or behaved - it wouldn't really matter, either. Too big, too small, too this, too that. They said a lot of it came from social media, then media in general. They all want to look like a Kardashian or something. Nothing was mentioned about intellectual pursuits or sporting endeavours (which makes me sad too), it was just about looks. It was quite heartbreaking (especially knowing I have a kid going through this). Some of the ones in puberty felt shame about themselves because of what others had said to them. It's horrible. Why is this done? Well, it's certainly one way to get a girl to shut up and "know her place". There'll be other "reasons" too, but they will be stupid and pointless and cruel. But young girls will, by and large, believe what they're told, even if they see the lie for what it is. And if they hear it over and over again, well, perhaps they just accept it's all them, they do look terrible and ought to be ashamed of themselves merely for existing and having the audacity to be female along with it. Keep being told a thing over and over and you have to be very strong mentally not to buy it, and because they're not fully developed mentally, it's harder for young girls to break out of it. It can lead to a good deal of adult life being hampered as a result. I speak from experience.

This is the only reason I want creators to have a care when putting their things out there - not that it shouldn't be out there at all. We need more open content in general life, constantly updated for the younger generations that they can identify with, without insulting them or belittling them (for example, my films above may not go down so well with a younger audience simply due to their age. Fie! For shame, and yet The Company of Wolves as a horror film with some gore certainly isn't something to show my daughter just yet - she is still 13 after all. She still has nightmares about that time she accidentally saw Skyrim spiders when she was 6 and she still has a Fred Savage-in-The Princess Bride reaction to kissing in films and TV. Does have a happily confessed crush on Alphinaud, though! ... sorry for tangent). I'm all for it being out there, just responsibly. However, I think this time I'm going to go with your take on this and say this particular content should be there and can be sensibly discussed. Bowing out of the thread now, I've got what I came for. Thanks again, QT, you've really helped me out, whether you meant to or not. You have a great day/night, you.

[QT_Melon]

Another insightful post. Bowing out of the thread now, I've got what I came for. Thanks again, QT, you've really helped me out, whether you meant to or not. You have a great day/night, you.

No problem. Like I said that's my interpretation of the whole thing. Right down to Ryne wanting to teach Eden, she wants to become the parent in a sense.

One other thing to note on a technical level - is that they're kinda limited on time on making children models. So they're either kinda tiny humans or full blown adults, and they have to program animations for scenes. I mean if you don't want to believe that only look to how limited are the Hrothgar and Vierra models. They basically kinda jimmy in models to do things. Even before the introduction of the Au Ra race officially, Yugiri was actually a rigged Miqo'te.

I mean if you want strange, I mentioned in another thread a CG Chinese animation called Doulou Dalou "Soul Land" I thought in a certain season they were adults, but at some point they stated they were 12! I figured this is because they wanted to keep the "older teen" models for later plots.

PS. There was a great article I read the other day about how Labyrinth became the sexual awakening of many females lol.
Another: I also just highly recommend "A Girl like me" by Kiri Davis (this one is more racial but really makes you think)

[Floortank]

OP, I admit, it's a bit awkward to see Ryne in a revealing outfit. But as far as how the community handles it, the worst parts of the community can't be mitigated through censorship. It's just not possible. So it's not a reasonable response to edit Ryne's model.

Also, I find it odd that you asked for a different head to be appended to the character, rather than just asking them to cover her up a bit. I mean, edits are never going to happen, but one request is far more reasonable than the other. It doesn't even make sense to put Ysayle's head on that body.

Also, must admit, I laughed at you saying you were surprised it was Ryne's head. Like, lol, that's not even within the realm of shocking.

[Granyala]

OP, I admit, it's a bit awkward to see Ryne in a revealing outfit.

I've seen more of my female class mates during swimming lessons back in the day, compared to what you can see of Shiva-Ryne.
And yes, we were all minors.

Maybe it's an U.S. thing but I just don't get the awkwardness about this.

[Eldevern]

Seriously, stop to consider FFXIV is doing politics. they use Historical references to create worlds and environments. They are not doing politics! It's a game, an environment created in order to allow people, especially those interested in RP to create their own stories.

FFXIV is full of mythological, antique and historical references, it is based on the real history accross the world and legends of people. There nothing to do with something to promote.

Politics in art destroy Art and make it propagande. It is never art anymore if you put politics in art!

Stop with you crazy political taboos! If you don't understand what Final Fantasy is, why do you even play this game?!?

[Reinha]

Maybe it's an U.S. thing but I just don't get the awkwardness about this.

It seems so.

There is swimming, ballet, gymnastics and lots of other activities where it's appropriate for teens to not cover up. Junior figure skating is a real life example of young lads and ladies competing on icy arenas. Having been exposed to sports in real life and on tv I just don't get how seeing a fictional 17 year old with an exposed midriff can make people uncomfortable.

[AnonymousBard]

I was just worried about staying alive to even pay attention to anything other than the arena and the song (the nostalgia gave me chills btw, i really enjoy this fight).

If it really bothers you TC, lets go over a few things.

In Japan, i believe the legal age is 16 (which is where FFXIV is developed). Also, Ryne's age is never specified. If i remember right, rough estimates in timeline put her at least at 16 if i remember the math, more than likely, it wouldnt surprise me that her canon age as of right now is closer to 17-18. Then theres the big rub... When it comes to animation and games, where characters are digitally created/drawn. The creator can make the character pretty much look like (almost) anything and say their age is something else. (I say "almost" because theres obvious examples that wouldn't work, like if an animator made a child obviously a toddler, theres certain actions that you just dont animate that character doing if you catch my drift). But its common practice for animators to draw characters that have the appearance of 14yr olds but the second they state their age as being at or above legal age, its pretty much open season. Its a big "You look like a middle schooler!" trope. Poor taste? maybe. But if the character age is within reason, i wouldnt let it bother you that much.

EDIT: I would also add that most times (in fantasy genres), the age appearance vs number is normally explained. Like how elves in most fictions are depicted as aging slowly, to the point that 20-something year olds can look like theyre in their younger teens. Body swapping, etc... I believe its mentioned that Ryne's body was a bit stagnated due to the over-abundance of Light-aspected aether. So she appears younger than she actually is. Again, just in case this really does bother you.

[XenociderOmega]

This not Twitter

[QT_Melon]

In Japan, i believe the legal age is 16 (which is where FFXIV is developed).

Technically the Age of consent is 13, but have many prefectures that have other laws that bump it up to 16-18 - Source: https://www.ageofconsent.net/world/japan

Her stature is obviously a design choice, if she had the adult model - the feeling of her being younger and wanting to protect her wouldn't come off as well if they used a regular model. That and design limitations.

That said, the choice is rather effective in this story as she's gotta grow up at some point - much like the twins feel more like youngsters doing the same as time goes on - where ARR made this flat (there's more communication with the localization to get ideas across now). This also really parallels the relationship with Thancred and Minfilia that was often misread as romantic due to model limitations - and it was more Older Brother/Younger Sister.

[Alaeacus]

It seems so.

There is swimming, ballet, gymnastics and lots of other activities where it's appropriate for teens to not cover up. Junior figure skating is a real life example of young lads and ladies competing on icy arenas. Having been exposed to sports in real life and on tv I just don't get how seeing a fictional 17 year old with an exposed midriff can make people uncomfortable.

Similar concept: In the U.S. you have so many grown men in public gym locker rooms who refuse to get naked to change clothes. If they do get naked, they hide in a shower to dress or turn to a corner in such a way so that absolutely nobody can see their wiener (even though, in reality, nobody is looking or even cares). I believe this is caused by a combination of puritanical beliefs, society making sexuality taboo, physical insecurity due to wiener appearance pressures/expectations, and a slight fear of homosexuality.

Dude, every guy has a wiener. You won't necessarily become gay if you look at one, and I am not going to tackle you if I see yours. Stop being so weird in the locker room, you are embarrassing yourself.